A killer who beat his 18-year-old partner and mother of his child to death with a stick can seek his freedom next year, a top judge ruled yesterday.

Andrew McMillan claimed he was thrown into an uncontrollable rage when his partner, Theresa Williams, threatened to leave him with the child on whom he doted.

In August 1993, he dragged her into a secluded grassy area near their Reading home and used a large stick, with a bolt sticking out of it, to repeatedly bludgeon her and inflict savage head injuries.

McMillan, aged 34 at the time of the killing, was first convicted of murder in October 1994, but the jury’s verdict was later overturned by the Appeal Court after it emerged that he might have been suffering from the effects of a brain tumour at the time.

However, he was found guilty of murder again and jailed for life after an April 2002 retrial.

Yesterday, after reviewing the case at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Justice Wilkie ruled McMillan must serve a minimum tariff of 13 years behind bars for his crime.

However, after taking into account almost eight years he had already spent in custody before his retrial, the ruling means McMillan can seek parole in the autumn of 2007.

But the judge stressed that McMillan will only in fact be freed if he can persuade the Parole Board he poses no danger to the public. And, given the personality disorder with which he has been diagnosed, Mr Justice Wilkie said great care should be taken before sanctioning his release into the community.

In fixing the tariff, the judge said he had read a letter from Theresa Williams’ parents, detailing the impact of this offence upon them and their family.